I know what I'm getting into with a Harlan Coban story to begin with -- it's going to have too many twists and turns (which, to me, feels like a lack of discipline on his part as a writer... he's obviously overindulgent and instead of deciding on a tight plot, he throws in everything and the kitchen sink).
Still, the typical Harlan Coban series is like watching a Lifetime movie, but with more plot twists. Not terrible, but not award-winning. And I usually enjoy the production value, which is mostly why I watch in the first place.
This one, however, is just bad. There are too many people who go missing, too many apathetic, lackadaisical parents and cops, so many little weird plot twists and subplots that aren't even interesting, and a bunch of characters you couldn't care less about.
Too many people die, and too many people "come back to life" as well. I mean, PICK ONE but don't have ALL the people fall into the parallel universe where "all is not what it seems."
I also couldn't tell whether it was Polish culture, or whether the relationships between people were just "off." Like the guy who didn't seem to believe one of his friends (a very decent, respectable person) when she was accused of dealing drugs. He just kind of shrugs it off and basically says, "Eh, we'll see," right to her face. What?! If one of my close friends thought that about me, I feel like I would be fairly offended.
I mean, usually you'd believe your friend first, and then if evidence was overwhelming, you'd begin to wonder whether you were wrong about them. In this case, the guy seemed to treat her as he would a stranger. Is that a Polish thing? If it is, fine. I get that cultures are different. However, if it's not a Polish thing, then it was super annoying and seemed to be a characteristic of many of the relationships throughout the story.
And don't even get me started on the weird score/soundtrack and the "music video" scenes that got dumped in there every now and then, with what sounded like 80s synthesizer music. (A couple of times I felt like I'd traveled back to high school and was watching a Rick Springfield video on MTV!)
There was also so little emotion showed at key moments where a character should have looked super scared/terrified, or sad, or whatever... a lot of fairly expressionless faces and voices... and then suddenly people would be having a random argument or someone would show a sudden display of emotion out of the blue. None of it felt cohesive at all.
And then, we get to the final 20 minutes or so, and everything that is revealed just makes the whole thing ridiculous. There are hardly any redeemable characters in the end... so, then, why did we need to see their lives played out on screen?
Again, Harlan Coban needs to try and rein in his overindulgence in twisty and convoluted stories in general -- but he really went off the deep end with this one. Too many twists and you're just left with something that has no real point. It's like TV junk food (and of course TV is often not all that "nutritious" to begin with!).
If you haven't started this one, I would skip it. I regret wasting my time and sticking with the whole thing, hoping the end would justify my time. It didn't.
Still, the typical Harlan Coban series is like watching a Lifetime movie, but with more plot twists. Not terrible, but not award-winning. And I usually enjoy the production value, which is mostly why I watch in the first place.
This one, however, is just bad. There are too many people who go missing, too many apathetic, lackadaisical parents and cops, so many little weird plot twists and subplots that aren't even interesting, and a bunch of characters you couldn't care less about.
Too many people die, and too many people "come back to life" as well. I mean, PICK ONE but don't have ALL the people fall into the parallel universe where "all is not what it seems."
I also couldn't tell whether it was Polish culture, or whether the relationships between people were just "off." Like the guy who didn't seem to believe one of his friends (a very decent, respectable person) when she was accused of dealing drugs. He just kind of shrugs it off and basically says, "Eh, we'll see," right to her face. What?! If one of my close friends thought that about me, I feel like I would be fairly offended.
I mean, usually you'd believe your friend first, and then if evidence was overwhelming, you'd begin to wonder whether you were wrong about them. In this case, the guy seemed to treat her as he would a stranger. Is that a Polish thing? If it is, fine. I get that cultures are different. However, if it's not a Polish thing, then it was super annoying and seemed to be a characteristic of many of the relationships throughout the story.
And don't even get me started on the weird score/soundtrack and the "music video" scenes that got dumped in there every now and then, with what sounded like 80s synthesizer music. (A couple of times I felt like I'd traveled back to high school and was watching a Rick Springfield video on MTV!)
There was also so little emotion showed at key moments where a character should have looked super scared/terrified, or sad, or whatever... a lot of fairly expressionless faces and voices... and then suddenly people would be having a random argument or someone would show a sudden display of emotion out of the blue. None of it felt cohesive at all.
And then, we get to the final 20 minutes or so, and everything that is revealed just makes the whole thing ridiculous. There are hardly any redeemable characters in the end... so, then, why did we need to see their lives played out on screen?
Again, Harlan Coban needs to try and rein in his overindulgence in twisty and convoluted stories in general -- but he really went off the deep end with this one. Too many twists and you're just left with something that has no real point. It's like TV junk food (and of course TV is often not all that "nutritious" to begin with!).
If you haven't started this one, I would skip it. I regret wasting my time and sticking with the whole thing, hoping the end would justify my time. It didn't.
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